Kaine Urges To Plan For Life After Ford

May 23, 2006|By PATRICK LYNCH Daily Press

NORFOLK — Workers should take advantage of training and education programs, the governor tells union leaders.

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine met with union leaders at Ford's Norfolk Assembly Plant Monday and encouraged them to tell workers at the plant to take any opportunities they have to get new job training before the plant closes in mid-2008.

Kaine, Norfolk Mayor Paul Fraim and members of Kaine's staff met with leaders of the United Auto Workers Local 919 to debrief them on Kaine's and Fraim's May 5 trip to Detroit to meet with Ford executives. Kaine said Ford made it clear they will not reverse their decision to close the plant and that it's time to shift efforts to helping the plant's 2,400 workers train for the next phase in their life.

"We're focusing on people right now," Kaine said.

Kaine said the state also offers job training programs that could apply to Ford workers, and that he and his staff are still working on how to best use those programs in this situation. The governor, who said he's getting weekly updates on the Ford plant, urged workers to use Ford's extensive offering of community college and other education programs while they are still employed there.

Ford announced in April that it would be closing the assembly plant, which is one of three that builds the automaker's most popular vehicle, the F-150 pickup. The decision is part of a massive restructuring that involves closing 14 plants and shifting production to the most nimble factories. Secretary of Commerce and Trade Patrick O. Gottschalk said part of the state's, the union's and Norfolk's job now is to assess what skills the Ford workers possess and what kind of jobs they'd be best suited for.

Gottschalk said that many of the plant's workers would technically be defined as unskilled, but he said employers would value their work ethic and track record.

He also said some industrial employers in the region have already expressed interest in the pool of workers that will enter the job market when the plant closes. To help land those jobs, Gottschalk said workers should take advantage of Ford's education programs.

"Their next job probably won't have that benefit," he said.

With the Ford plant closing, not only is Hampton Roads losing a major manufacturing employer, but the state of Virginia is losing its only major manufacturer of personal vehicles. Volvo also builds tractor-trailer trucks in the western part of the state.

While other Southern states have aggressively pursued foreign automakers to build assembly plants in the South over the past 15 years, Virginia has largely steered clear of that competition. States such as Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi have recently offered incentive packages worth hundreds of millions to Asian automakers.

In response to a question, Kaine acknowledged that if Virginia wants to land a new auto plant -- Toyota has been rumored to be at least considering the state -- state leaders will have to do more than they have in the past.

"You can't get an auto plant by having a nice place to live," he said. "If we want to play in this game, we're going to have to be a little more aggressive." *